Dozen frustrated Dems face steep challenge to unseat Pelosi

26 June 2017

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders insisted that they demonstrated important progress by coming in a close second, and have a good shot at taking back the House in next year's midterm elections. Republicans have won all four of the four special elections that have been held under President Trump.

Yet each time, Republicans beat back the advances. Some on the left argued for a sharper progressive message and more pointed attacks on Republicans and Trump, while Democrats from Midwestern and working-class districts emphasized the importance of an economic message that could appeal to working class voters who were drawn to Trump.

"They're definitely licking their wounds", Kerwin Swint, professor and chair of the political science department at Georgia's Kennesaw State University, told AFP.

President Donald Trump is lashing out at top Democrats on Twitter. "And you can't get away from the fact that in Georgia this was seen as a test of whether the resistance by Democrats was going to overpower the Republicans or whether the Trump vote would hold".

"Democrats should not focus their campaigns about him, they should be about jobs", he added.

"We need to be focused on next November, and what happens with the reality of health care and trade, tax policies and the impact on working men and women", said Rep. Debbie Dingell of MI.

She dismissed the members who have said it is time for a change as "blatantly self-serving" and "having fun on TV". A month ago Yglesias was celebrating the loss of the democrat in the Montana special congressional election by declaring his loss to really mean a win for democrats.

Instead, they were all within seven percentage points.

When pressed to give a name of who might fill that void, Rice said, "I look to a lot of my colleagues now". They just don't know how to make it happen.

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As Democrats seek to regroup, they are hobbled by a glaring omission: no clear party protagonist has emerged as a potential challenger to Trump in 2020.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she's confident she has the support in her caucus despite finger-pointing and frustration after Democrats lost a Georgia special election.

"Nancy Pelosi will be front and center in the millions of dollars we're going to spend over the next two years across the country", said Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) executive director Corry Bliss, whose group spent nearly $7 million in the Georgia election cycle...

Frustrated Democrats pondered the party's future and questioned its campaign messaging on Wednesday after a demoralizing defeat in a Georgia congressional race widely seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's young administration.

"I don't think that any party should allow the opposite party to choose their leaders", she said.

The party in presidential power traditionally fares poorly during USA midterm elections. You have a baseball team that keeps losing year after year. They must pick up 24 seats to do so.

In a memo this past week, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Ben Ray Lujan described at least 71 districts that are more competitive than the four contested so far this year. And we have one goal: "winning in 2018".

It has had a frosty reception.

"A lot will depend on where Trump's approval rating is next year, and health care will obviously mold that climate", Professor Swint said.